A host terminal such as a desktop or laptop computer often makes use of a wireless modem device, e.g. in the form of an external dongle connecting to the host terminal via a USB (universal serial bus) port. The host terminal runs operating system (OS) software which will operate the device as a modem to make calls or provide wireless Internet access via a mobile cellular network (e.g. a 3GPP network or other CDMA network).
Some operating systems or some legacy versions of operating systems do not contain enough software to drive a wireless modem by themselves. Typically, in this case the user must install some software before the modem can function. To do this, most devices on the market have a two stage process. The first stage is that the modem emulates a CD-ROM device which contains the required software. Once the software is installed, the modem is reset to provide modem functionality. On the other hand, a more modern version of the operating system may comprise sufficient software to operate the wireless modem without additional driver software needing to be installed. It is desirable to provide a suitable mechanism for detecting, upon the device being connected, whether or not the operating system can immediately use the device as a modem or whether it requires the additional driver software.